Community Sports

The Lancaster Post 31 Legion baseball team will return to League V play, looking to build off its latest success.
Lancaster, 3-5, opened the 2017 Legion baseball season with five straight losses, but rebounded to notch three straight victories.
Lancaster was off last week, but will return to play Monday when Post 31 will host Rock Hill Post 34 in the League V mini-series.
Game two is slated for Rock Hill Post 34 on Tuesday, with game three slated for Thursday at Lancaster’s Eggleton Field. All games begin at 7 p.m.

South Carolina senior guard Sindarius Thornwell is the SEC Player of the Week after averaging 36 points, 12.5 rebounds and three assists per game last week versus Alabama and at Mississippi State.
The weekly honor is the third Player of the Week award of his career, and the second this season.Thornwell was named SEC Freshman of the Week three times during his rookie campaign of 2013-14.

COLUMBIA – University of South Carolina senior guard Sindarius Thornwell was named to the Naismith Trophy Top 30 list on Thursday by Atlanta Tipoff Club.
The list is comprised of the nation’s top basketball players under consideration for the 2017 Naismith Men’s College Player of the Year award. Ten semifinalists for the honor will be announced on March 1.
Thornwell, of Lancaster, is having a career year at USC in the 2016-17 hoops season.

The A.R. Rucker Rams impressively put the finishing touches on an unbeaten basketball season and a conference title with a decisive win over rival South Middle School in the Lancaster High School gym on Wednesday night.
The Rams charged to a 75-40 win over the Mustangs to wrap up a 17-0 season.
The Rucker boys’ win came after the Lady Rams cruised to a 41-11 win over the Lady Mustangs.
The Rams started fast against the Mustangs and were in complete control for the victory.

The Buford Stingers Wrestling Club had four youth wrestlers place in the recent tournament at Buford High School.
Gavin Laney captured a first to lead the Stingers effort. Maddox Hunter and Mason Knight each finished second in their weight classes.
Ashton Gardner was third in the tournament.
The Stingers Wrestling Club is open to wrestlers, ages 5-12, from Buford, Heath Springs, Kershaw and Lancaster.
If your child is interested, please contact Scott Teague at (803) 342-3647 or carolinacutters71@gmail.com

Jaquarius Brice’s final Death Valley day Saturday is one he will never forget.
Brice, the senior walk-on defensive end for the national champion Clemson Tigers, totally enjoyed his final appearance at Frank Howard Field.
The former Lancaster High School football player called the experience “amazing.”
“There’s no experience like going down the hill at Death Valley,” Brice said.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning on the heels of Clemson dethroning
Alabama for the College Football Playoff National Championship, my thoughts went back to Christmas Eve, 2013.
That day I recall buying a USA Today, which in that holiday edition focused on college football recruiting.
In the issue, I remember reading about a Clemson University football recruit named Deshaun Watson, considered the nation’s top dual threat quarterback.

Lancaster area Clemson football fans are roaring about the latest Tigers’ triumph and what lies ahead as the Tigers prowl for the national championship.
The 13-1 Tigers earned a second straight shot at the national title after blanking the Ohio State Buckeyes, 31-0 in the Play Station Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., on Saturday night.
Clemson faces defending national champion Alabama in the College Football Playoff national championship in Tampa, Fla., on Monday night.

MYRTLE BEACH – Kershaw area recreation youth football standout Fuller Sims is playing in the Diamond All-American Games in Myrtle Beach this week.
The games, open to youth football standouts, are played Dec. 29-31.
In the Dec. 29 game on Thursday morning, Sims’ sixth grade white squad dropped a 33-12 loss to the sixth grade red squad.
Sims, from his linebacker post, had a tackle, four assists and forced a fumble.
The elite youth football all-star games have drawn 1,235 nominations from across the world since May 1.

The A.R. Rucker Rams are the toast of the Chestnut Oaks Middle School holiday basketball tournament.
The unbeaten Rams, 10-0, rolled through the field on the way to the championship in the three-day tournament at the Sumter County middle school on Dec. 22.
Rucker, led by coach Lamont Elder, captured the tournament crown with a 47-35 win over host Chestnut Oaks Middle School on Thursday afternoon.